Alabama

Bruce Pearl poses for pictures at the Birmingham Tip-Off Club with Wenonah basketball players Marcus Williams (left) and Justin Coleman, who has signed to play at Alabama. (Jon Solomon/jsolomon@al.com)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Witnessing a Bruce Pearl speech these days is to see part carnival act, part confessional mixed with astute observations and stand-up comedy lines.

Pearl, the larger-than-life former Tennessee basketball coach, is above all else a salesman. No, really, he's literally a salesman.

When he's not calling college basketball for ESPN, Pearl is vice president of marketing for the H.T. Hackney Company -- a Knoxville-based wholesale distributor for groceries and convenience stores.

At a speech today at the Birmingham Tip-Off Club, Pearl sold his past unprecedented coaching success with the Vols. He sold the sport of basketball. He sold coaching and life philosophies by directly addressing some local high school players in attendance.

And he sold his apologies for lying to the NCAA about a barbecue at his house with recruits. It's that cover-up that caused Pearl to be fired and handed a three-year show-cause penalty that expires next August.

"I'm on a three-year rehab tour," Pearl told the audience. "I've probably spoken to 500 different -- I don't want to provide any more false or misleading information -- hundreds of boys and girls clubs and said, 'Listen, this is what I did and I'm accountable.

"And I apologize. I was really proud of what we did -- almost everything -- at Tennessee, and how we represented the Southeastern Conference. And when I let her down, I'm embarrassed and I'll ask for your grace the mistakes that I paid because I brought something that I didn't try to bring to our conference and to our university."

The elephant in the room during Pearl's speech at The Westin, which has a pathway that connects to the SEC office: Will he coach again and could it be in the state of Alabama?

Oftentimes, coaches take rehab tours and resurface, at least initially, at lower-level or mid-major jobs. "Not happening," Pearl said of his possible future plans during an interview after the speech.

Pearl said he would not rule out coaching again in the SEC if the opportunity presented itself, although he acknowledged doing so would be difficult given his ongoing relationship to Tennessee fans.

"I want to depart on good terms as best I possibly can," Pearl said. "But at the same time, I've got to take care of my family. I would not not coach in the SEC."

If Pearl coaches again, he said he wants a job "that needs what I do." He's talking about salesmanship, getting out in the community, promoting the sport, getting fans into seats, and winning.

"I'm a good coach, I don't think I'm a great coach," Pearl said. "But if they want the full package of what the program needs, the commitment would need to be there. (Former Tennessee athletics director) Mike Hamilton and (ex-Vols associate AD) John Currie, they're ACC guys and wanted men's basketball to be right there with football. And we did it."

Joe Dean Jr., an SEC basketball analyst who invited Pearl to speak, has followed SEC basketball for about 50 years. Dean believes only two people have captivated SEC audiences through personality and marketing and won big: Dale Brown at LSU and Pearl.

Pearl looks around the SEC and sees too many unexcited fan bases. He said programs such as Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Ole Miss and LSU are all on the cusp of potentially becoming rising teams. And while he likes that the SEC is scheduling better nonconference games, he sees too few home-court advantages in the SEC.

Alabama's crowd in its loss to Wichita State, a Final Four team last season, should have been more enthusiastic earlier to motivate every Crimson Tide player except Trevor Releford, Pearl said.

"The crowd got really loud, but it took Alabama doing something on the floor for the crowd to get there, and it has to work the other way around," Pearl said. "If I want the program to be nationally competitive and I have a chance to beat Wichita State, I'm going to go in there and do my job. That's what they do in football. Those are the things that are absolutely required, and we're not doing it in the SEC. We're just not. We have too many venues where there are too many empty seats."

Yes, Pearl still uses the words "we" and "our" to describe the SEC. He apologizes for that, too. "It's sort of habit," he said.

How do you promote basketball in the football-mad South? Pearl told the story of how he spoke to the Birmingham Tip-Off Club several years ago as Tennessee's coach and turned the day into the speech, a Vols alumni event and an appearance on Paul Finebaum's radio show while in Birmingham.

Another way to build support: Pearl said he found what he calls "witnesses" to attend away games.

"They're not fans, they're witnesses because you're fixing to go some place and you need some witnesses," Pearl said. "So I would go to the Auburn communities and we would have our own events. I got 50 people to come to the game at Auburn while I was developing my program. We were asking for their support. People bought in, they took the ownership, they felt responsible. I could even get them to feel guilty when they didn't come to a ballgame."

It was at this point in the speech where Pearl let the audience know that he's Jewish, in case the listeners didn't know.

"For y'all that aren't Jewish and save and accept Chris as your savior, you've got your way to get there," Pearl said. "You've got it. You're in. But for us, the way my family raised me, I know I can't get there just on my good works. God know I can't get there on my works.

"But a lot of times I did things not just to get people to come to the game, but because it was the right thing to do. And if it pleased God, then maybe I've got myself a shot to get there."

The speech continued. There was a viagra joke; an Old Testament vs. New Testament reference in relation to "bible study" with his friend, Phillip Fulmer; and caution over firing coaches too quickly. "They fired (Fulmer) because he couldn't beat Nick Saban and Urban Meyer and nobody else has," Pearl said.

One woman in the audience told Pearl that if he doesn't coach again, there's a whole country that needs someone like him.

A man raved to Pearl about how he once coached an undermanned Tennessee team to a win over No. 1 Kansas. "I'll give up a few groceries to be able to see you coach some more," the man said.

Pearl said he misses the gym, the players, the games, the challenges. After losing his job at Tennessee, Pearl said for the first time in his life he was being paid to take care of his family simply based on what he did, not what he could get his coaches, players or community to do.

"That was scary," Pearl said. "I actually think I'm built to do more in the business world than I'm really built to do at ESPN. I love the game. I love calling the game. But I'm not making anybody any better by doing that, and that's always been my idea is making some other folks better."

Coaching opportunities could be coming for Pearl in March, although the show-cause penalty lasts through August.

"I'm not going to let that stop me," Pearl said about his NCAA past. "As publicly embarrassing as it was, that's not who I am. The only way I can do that is show that every day. I put myself in position where if the right opportunity presents itself, we'll be ready."